All the Lonely People
by LittleWhiteNightOwl
Summary: A slight change from my previous story...Many years before the Enterprise, friendship is a stranger to a younger Spock, but this new aquaintance may be more than Spock's first friend....


All The Lonely People

**A/N: This is set a good 15 years before the Enterprise. Just FYI…Enjoy. ******

The scarf that was tied around Daire's head had fallen again. Upside down underneath the broken medic chair, it was not hard to believe, but still, frustrating. Daire knew that the entire group of students watching her working had been briefed on the strange appearance of their instructor, but that didn't stop them from staring at the pale pointed ears that parted her short, dust brown hair. She cursed silently, partly because the wire wouldn't re-splice, partly because she was embarrassed. Her half-Vulcan origins had shown themselves in strange ways at her birth. She had always struggled to accept the appearance that made her so different.

The wire suddenly connected with a flashing spark, and Daire gracefully retrieved the scarf and stood up, standing as tall as the tallest student. The tiny, training lab in the Starfleet Academy where she worked daily had grown worn and the air smelled of stirring bodies. She had never gotten used to so many people. The memories of her childhood had never been buried that deeply.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how to splice a wire. Jonathan, can you tell your comrades why it is important that medical students not only know how to care for their equipment, but also how to repair it? Thank you. When he is finished, so is the lesson."

Daire walked away, carefully arranging the scarf once more, letting the dull gray fabric wash out her pale face and leave shadows around her eyes. She was punching an equation into a screen in the medical sciences lab, when the call came to report to the designated ships, and for cadets to find their instructors. She nodded, finished punching in the numbers, and shut down the screen. She had been waiting days for this call.

[ CADETS TO DESIGNATED SHUTTLES…CADETS TO DESIGNATED SHUTTLES…MEDICAL OFFICERS REPORT TO DECK 14….CADETS TO DESIGNATED SHUTTLES]

There had been a shortage of medical officers since the crisis a year before when the deadly strain of Atarkion Leprosy had spread throughout Starfleet. Even though Daire had been prepared for this, the shortage was more that she had expected. They had promoted five of the top medic students to officers, and barley had one for each ship. As this was only a mission to recover Federation ambassadors from threatened points around the galaxy, she wasn't too worried, but if the star in question flared before arrival, there needed to be competent doctors available. Daire was assigned to the Calcinon, one of the newest ships, under Captian Frael, as senior medical officer. She reached up to pull her scarf up, but found it gone, pulled away by the surging crowds of reds and blues. Deciding not to worry about it, she began to quickly walk towards the shuttle for Calcinon officers. She found her stride matched by the only other half Vulcan in Starfleet, who greeted her quickly, purposefully.

" Are you headed for the Calcinon, Doctor?"

"Yes, Mr. Spock, are you headed there as well?"

"Indeed. It seems will be seeing more of each other in the next few days."

"I hope not, sir, if you understand. I sincerely hope there is no need for medics on this journey."

"As you say, Doctor."

She boarded the shuttle with her small pack and sat next to the window. This would certainly be an interesting mission.

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Attention Calcinon crew. We have a 4 to 5 hour trip to the Terrentian Systems where the recovery operations are to take place. We are sorry for the delay, but the Calcinon is nearly twenty years old, and it is not in the condition it used to be. Please check in with senior officers in each bay for instructions regarding working schedules

Daire flinched when she heard 'senior officer'. She was twenty-five, but felt ancient, and the 'senior' didn't help. She had been lucky enough to have an assistant officer in the medical bay, so that gave her a little more free time. Secretly, she hated the pristine white walls and equipment. The lack of feeling made her very uncomfortable. At every chance she had throughout the years she would escape the confining rooms to retrieve vaccines or supplies, and it was at one of these escapes, about two hours into the journey, that she once more ran into her Vulcan colleague. Although this time it was far more personal than she would have hoped, because, staring at her collection of thermometers as much as he was staring at the documents in his hands, they collided awkwardly.

"Oh! I am so sorry, sir! I wasn't looking where I was going!"

She was laughing, a high, chirping sound, and trying to get the scattered set into her box. Of all the people she could have bumped into….

" Neither was I, apparently. My sincerest apologies."

He hadn't dropped anything, but was regarding her with interest. When Daire raised her head to see why he was still standing there, he spoke.

" You are Vulcan, are you not?"

Daire was instantly sobered, and a little annoyed. She straightened defensively, balancing the box on the hip of her blue uniform.

"Yes, half."

"If you'll excuse me, may I speak my mind?"

"Please."

"Why do you not consider your Vulcan heritage at all? You're practically human; you let your emotions take control of your mind."

Daire didn't know what to say. Her whole life had been spent wondering if Vulcan was somehow more of a home than Earth could ever be. To say she devoured anything Vulcan that came to her in life would be a stunning understatement. Summoning what disinterest she could, she said crisply,

"My mother and father lived on Vulcan, I am sure of this. But that is all I know, I do not know if my mother was Vulcan or human, or how or why I grew up on earth. I have been told everything from the death of my parents, to possessing a rare disease that made my travel to earth necessary. No one has ever bothered to tell me more than that. If it appears that I have not considered what I surely consider to be my better half, it is simply because I have had no teacher. Permission to speak freely, commander?"

"Continue, please."

"What do you have to hide, here? It is a great meeting place of cultures and families, and yet you walk by every hour with not even a smile on your face. I have never been to Vulcan. Is this what it is like there? Why go to a place where you have to hide what connects you to the people around you? I would be a fool to say you have no emotions, for, to be sure, emotion must run deeper in your—our race than any other. But why hide behind that strange mask of nothingness?"

Daire didn't wait for a reply. She believed the question to be rhetorical, and besides, she would find out for herself, one day. To go to Vulcan had been her greatest dream all her life, and she wouldn't let anything deter her from this mission.

The tasks she assigned to the cadets were simple ones, tasks that she could have carried out in her sleep. She was as happy to let her assistant handle things as he was to handle them, and as the medical ward had no one in excepting a case of a poorly cared for cold, she didn't have much to do. Another hour of wandering around personal quarters and medical made her wish desperately for some action. But, as bored as she was, it surprised her greatly when she was called to conference room five by the bridge, and she was even more surprised when she found who was waiting for her.

"It seems you and I have been seeing a lot of each other today."

This was strange, she had not forseen this at all. Was it possible things were beginning to change again?

" I have been thinking about your words earlier, Doctor-"

"Daire"

" Yes, Daire, and I –you aren't busy are you?"

"If you consider wandering down empty corridors busy, then yes."

" I wondered if you wanted a 'teacher', as you said, earlier. I am very knowledgeable in Vulcan culture and I'm sure I could enlighten you on what you want to know. It would be rational to help you in this respect, for, after all, we are of the same heritage…."

_That's odd, _Daire thought_, it is like he is reassuring himself of his logistics. _Echoing his strange, emotionless speech, she was barley able to contain her excitement.

"That would be logical. However, I do have many questions. Are you prepared for what I may ask?"

She was referring to earlier. She knew that if he agreed to this she would irritate and offend him, but she was asking his permission, and she knew that he knew this.

" If you are prepared for challenges to your philosophies, if that is to what you are referring."

_What is this game he plays?_

"Your help will be much appreciated, sir."

She sat across from him at the wide gray table and wondered what had made him come back. Certainly it was not out of kindness, and she was almost positive it was only to help a poor, culture starved girl gain some perspective. _Show off. Do not underestimate me, strange one. I know more than you think I do._

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Daire and Spock had been in the confrence room for nearly fifteen minutes, and tempers were beginning to rise. At least Daire's was. She couldn't bring herself to believe that her companion's _wasn't_…but thinking about it made her more upset. They had begun with simple questions, about landscapes and simple culture. Even this had begun to lean towards the philosophical, and Daire was beginning to get angry. In her childhood, she had imagined Vulcan to be a home for her, full of warmth and family, but all she could understand from Spock was that it was a logistical society full of technology and sciences. So, she sat in her chair, her jaw set, her arms crossed, staring across the flawless table at the Vulcan. He was properly straight-back as he looked back, and to the trained eye, he looked rather amused, as if at his obvious superiority.

" You know some of the language, I assume." His voice was light a sharp sound breaking the silence, but not the atmosphere.

"Of course."

"For example?"

"If I didn't know your name I would probably call you, Akane. Akan, meaning alien, with the 'e' symbolizing its change into a proper noun."

"You would call me 'alien'?"

"You do remember I attended the school for two years before meeting you formally. What was I supposed to refer to you as?"

"….Strange."

"How so?"

" We are the same, and yet you would call me an alien."

"You look different." She knew this was irritating him. She loved it. Anything to get under his skin.

" Are you going to attempt to take this seriously? I could leave."

" I am sorry, Mr. Akani."

_He was so sensitive! _It was almost laughable. She smiled at the grim look shot at her and his fingers began to drum impatiently on the table.

"So you have some idea of the language, how about the basic advantages and abilities of the Vulcan people?"

"…What?"

"Vulcans, as a superior race, have certain…skills. Most commonly of the mental nature, there are a few that can be used in combat."

" Of what mental natures?"

" The most common is the transference of memories, or learning of memories called a 'mind probe'. However, approximately one in five hundred Vulcans posses as strong ability to predict future events, and some who are more skilled can even convey thoughts directly into other's minds."

_Well, _Daire thought_, that explains a lot…._

" ……The mind probe, for example. Also called a mind meld."

Oops, she had missed something…

"What is it?"

"It is where the Vulcan in question scans the memories of another creature, through a harmless touch."

This was interesting. You had to touch someone to read their memories. She had never considered that before. She looked at her palms, stretching her fingers. She looked up at him, and smiled a little.

"Show me."

"No, it is a highly personal ordeal."

"Please. If I am ever to learn what it is, you must show me. You can do it, cant you?"

There was a pause, and Daire sensed she had presented him with a situation never delt with before…she had derived from his interaction and even communication with people, he had never talked to anyone in this way.

"Yes. Alright. But only for teaching purposes, you understand."

"Of course."

" Close your eyes, and try to open your mind, if possible."

His fingers were cold on her face and she flinched away at first. But she was surprised at the ease of his search. At first, she could feel the desire only to touch the surface of her thoughts, but that desire was dragged away by the painful memories that flew like ripped ribbons through the touch of his mind. She was with him, too, watching. She felt as if they were both standing over the abyss of her thoughts, and the way down was dark. Spock's presence in her mind didn't notice that she was seeing with him…she didn't want to re-live this, but she knew that she needed to, with him. If only so that he would understand. She gave the foreign presence a tiny push, and jumped into the darkness herself.

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_Twenty Years Ago_

_A little girl, 5 years old. An old dress dusty and torn. She had wide green eyes that took up most of her face…_

_A dark floor, faded walls, heavy footsteps…_

"_What's going on? Where are you going? Can you come play with me?"_

_A man, too tall, his face etched with worry, his faced blurred but noticeably Vulcan…._

_He turned, and saw her. His eyes were hard, cold. Emotionless_

"_Don't ask questions, Child of Nowhere._

_The closed door and a mind- shattering sound._

_And the girl knew he was gone and that it was her fault. She didn't cry. Just turned and walked out of the house. Five years old, she knew she was on her own._

********

_14 Years Ago_

_9 years old, the same child, stunningly pretty but in a way that made people question their eyes…her beauty was so strange… so not at home here…_

"_Peter? You really want me to go with you?" A human boy, dusty red hair. Patched clothing. _

"_Of course, Daire, you're the most pretty girl around."_

_The dusty walls of a brick building, the children were barefoot…_

"_How much farther?"_

"_Just around the corner."_

_The corner of a dusty building, stone. The children waiting, laughing, their hands full of stones and apples. Whispering._

" _Here we are!"_

_They were laughing, and the stones they threw cut her, spilling the deep green blood on her clothes. They laughed, slightly afraid, and she understood, as she ran from them. _

_HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_

Spock was leaning over the table, and his hand was pressed hard against Daire's face. She was crying, and her tears spilled down her face into the palm of her tormentor's hand. She had the power to stop him, but she did not.

The memories slid by fast, but not to fast to take away the pain. She grew again, older. She was alone again…again….

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" _You don't deserve to be here!"_

"_What ARE you anyways?"_

" _You make me sick!"_

" _You thought I loved you? How could I love something like you? You don't belong anywhere!"_

_HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_

The years flew by in her mind, and she did not pull away, until they reached the day she entered Starfleet. She withdrew. _That's enough!_

Spock pulled his hand away, shocked, and stared at the wetness in his palm, and then at her. She was still crying, a fierce determined cry, that embodied all the pain he had just witnessed. She gave him a level stare, to let him know she was all right. But he was still amazed.

"I'm sorry."

That seemed to be all he could say. He didn't look her in the eyes.

"It's all right. I should be leaving." She pushed the chair in as she stood, the traces of tears now fading. She was nearly out the door when he spoke.

" Do you want me to teach it to you…?"

She looked back, briefly, at this strange man who was so like herself, but so very different. His face was blank, but his hand was clenched into a fist, resting on the table.

_When speaking of matters of the mind, Mr. Spock, it seems I am more informed than you._

She smiled and left, leaving the words the echo across his mind.

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Daire had only had two real 'visions' in her life. She didn't really consider them to be visions, but, for lack of a better word, that's what they were. They had both been at the end of the day, as she was sitting or resting, and had taken her completely by surprise. Each one of her senses had been taken over, where before, it had only been her sight, and she experienced an event that would come to pass. Or, may come to pass, which she learned after neither of the visions came to pass. But aside from her visions, the flashes of what may happen came nearly daily. They were tiny glimpses of a face, or words, that hinted towards what may happen. These did not all take place either, and Daire's theory was that it was because the choices she made changed things. She knew that the call for a mission was coming when she was in the med lab, but she reasoned that it was only because of her scarf going missing the she met Spock. But she also sensed a change in things, a change that was leading to a bigger change. Her thin face grew worried as she made her way down the halls back to the medical bay, but calls from passers-by erased the look from her face.

" Hey, elf girl! They think the ship's engines are gonna burn out! What say you?"

It was the mechanics, they were hurrying along the hall, their dark shirts a slight blur.

Daire smiled, despite the name. It was a custom of the humans.

"Only engine two, if you mechanics get down there fast enough."

The tiny transmitter held by one of the men buzzed.

" _Engine 2 is completely out, get down here, we need all the help we can get!"_

"Heh, right every time…" They smiled dryley, waved and began to walk faster away from her. _Some things never change…_

She was a bit concerned about the engines, she began to walk faster, then calmed down and told herself it wasn't anything serious….they weren't far away from anything yet. She lapsed into thought again. It wasn't that Daire didn't want to embrace the Vulcan in her blood. She did, more than anyone could ever now, except now maybe Spock, since her latest adventure. She rubbed her temple with a long finger, and hoped the traces of a headache wouldn't turn into anything more. Letting Spock into such a personal part of her mind probably wasn't a good idea, but she wanted him to understand her a little more than the initial disgust. She really did admire him, and she knew enough about Vulcan culture to know that he was a bit of an anomaly, to control his human side so well. She wished she could do the same, as all the pent of emotion burned her insides. She felt that somehow, she would be safer hidden away. She stumbled against the wall in mid-thought, a vision barring her mind.

_A young girl, little, pale with dark hair, pointed ears. Vulcan? No, this was different…she smiled, waved. Green eyes._

And it was gone. Perhaps it meant nothing, but as Daire regained her footing and strode purposefully into the bay, she bit her lip. Something was happening. Her glimpses of the future were changing again.

The ship jarred unnervingly, and something made a terrible grinding noise.

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Spock had not said a word to anyone since hearing the half-human's voice in his mind. To say he was irritated would be illogical, because he had no need for such a trivial emotion. To say that he was confused, had pity for, or was amazed by the girl would, also, be illogical. In light of this, he concluded, he was merely interested. Interested in what else this strange girl with the human eyes and Vulcan face was capable of. He knew that she must be capable of the control that he had, but she must only use it when most necessary. Considering her past, this was commendable. Not that he was issuing commendations, for that most certainly was not the case. He arrived at the bridge, his hands crossed behind him, when the Captain spotted him.

" Good God, Spock, there you are! The engines are failing!"

"What?!" Spock rushed to the sensors, pulling up an engine diagram. "That's unexpected. I assumed this ship would be well cared for, despite its age. Do we have time to pull into a star port? I believe the coordinates shown are near my home planet. Or if that is undesirable, I believe there are several other planets nearby, but I am not certain they belong to the federation."

Captain Frael, a short, muscular Irish man, sighed.

"It seems you got lucky this time, Commander, we are headed towards Vulcan. But it will mean a prolonged mission, if we are even able to finish it. There are over 200 men and women on this ship, and I'd hate to tell them they have an extra five days before returning home, much less that we aren't even going to accomplish what we set out for. I can't believe the mechanics couldn't fix this! Shows the kind of people we get at Starfleet."

" I can arrange for a dock to be open on one of the Vulcan moons. I believe Azehl has a port well equipped for the repairs needed."

"Please, Commander. How long until arrival?"

"About thirty minutes, Captain."

" Wonderful." The captain smiled dryly.

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Daire was headed towards the mechanical levels some ten minutes later, with a shot of pain-killer for a burned hand, when fuel in engine 2 began to leak. As the ships needed minimal fuel in liquid form, this should have been of no concern, but the wires split open from the work being done were sparking. The workers taking a rest, didn't notice the tiny flame, or the spill of fuel until it was too late. Daire was twenty feet down the hall when half the mechanical bay exploded, sending her plunging into the hallways connecting the levels….

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The bridge was in the middle of a communications link with Vulcan when a tremor rocked the ship, followed by several more. The computer began to flash an alert, and Spock ran to the sensors only to find the engine statistics missing. What was going on?

" Frael to Mechanical…Anyone!? What's going on!?" The captian was screeching into a tiny screen, until the bruised face of a young officer appeared.

" Captain? It's the sub-mechanical levels! They're gone. Something went wrong with the repairs, they think the fuel leaked. There are no more explosions, but at least 15 people were down there, Sir."

The man switched screens with no response, while the alarms flashed warnings around the bridge. The captain swore, and hit the screen with the side of his hand. He turned to scan the circular room, as the ship jarred again, throwing the remaining people painfully to the side. The communications officer was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, and Spock was cut deeply in the side when his near-fall propelled him into the corner of the communications keyboard.

"MEDICAL!!"

The captain screamed

" GET ME MEDICAL! WHERE'S DAIRE!?"

The screen fuzzed several times before a young man's face came in to the screen, a cut on his forehead.

" Captain….medical out…communication's barely working…Doctor is trapped…"

"What? What's happened to the doctor?"

"Don't know sir…..green…I don't know.."

" It's her blood. They don't know what it is. She must have Vulcan blood."

Spock mechanically spoke, holding his left side, where too, green was seeping through his shirt.

" Do you know much bout this, Spock?"

"Yes, Sir."

" Get down to medical, we have to have a doctor. I'm going to try and get us to that moon port."

"Sir."

Spock left, the pain a numb throb in his side, and swept through the flashing corridors to the lower levels, where Daire was lying, nearly dead, cursing the stupidity of humans.

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"…_And I shall call the pebble Dare, I shall call the pebble Dare. And we will talk about walking…Dare shall be carried, and when we both have had enough…I will take her from my shoe, singing…here's your new home…"_

_Godspell_

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When thrown into the hall, a large support pillar had crashed through the plastic casings on the wall, instantly killing a mechanic on his way into the engine rooms. The man kept the crushing weight off Daire, but his laser knife had activated, slicing into her left arm and rib cage. She was stuck, painfully away of her torso nearly getting sliced in half, and bleeding profusely. What made it worse was that her incompetent human assistants were staring at her in bewilderment, for the green liquid they found spilling across the floor could not possibly be blood.

She was trying to scream, through the blood filling her mouth, but, on the verge of unconsciousness, she wasn't succeeding. She resorted to more desperate measures.

_YOU INCOMPETENT FOOLS!! I KNOW IT'S GREEN, IT'S STILL BLOOD! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!_

And she was lost to the painful darkness, even as Spock, who had heard her mental outburst, began to run.

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He carried her to the surviving parts of the medical bay and bandaged her up himself. This was ridiculous. The probability of the very same person he had conversed with earlier to be the one who required his personal assistance was very small, and yet, it happened. His shirt was drenched in her blood, and his as well, a fact she was observant about when she awoke from her unconsciousness a few minutes later. Gasping with the pain, she grabbed his shirt and whispered,

" Are you alright?"

" Most of this is yours, not mine. I fail to see why you would be asking me why—"

" Are you _hurt_, Akani?"

"…No. We're docked in a port on one of Vulcan's moons, but I think you're going to need medical attention on the planet. What can I give you that will restore your unconsciousness?"

" Left counter, blue label. Ohhhh.." _This really, really hurt. _ She tried to move, to sit up. There were people who needed her help.

" Don't move. We have to get you out of here."

Daire was unconscious again, still bleeding more than made Spock comfortable. He picked up the thin figure, she was so light it almost threw him off balance. The captain's voice was echoing through the ruined halls, assuring everyone that medical care was available on Vulcan, that everything was going to be fine. Spock rushed through the passages, past bleeding, sobbing humans, and didn't give them a glance. The hidden desire, like a flame inside him, to help this poor, broken thing, lept and tore at his throat. This was a little unusual, as his human emotions rarely bothered him in the past. It must be the new friendship he was developing with the girl so like himself, the compassion he unwittingly was showing. Weakness, was all feeling was. He was being weak, feeling so fiercely protective of the dying Vulcan in his arms. But it was only logical to help her, he knew what it was like, after all. It was only logical. Only logical to save the ship's surgeon. After all, what was a friend but a hindrance to duty? But some ancient desire egged him on, forcing his feet to move as fast as the blood from Daire's body.

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The doctors had pronounced her nearly dead by the time she was in a stable condition. Spock had put her on the first shuttle down to the medical center in the Vulcan Port and Interplanetary Centers, and she had remained unconscious for nearly two days, through the surgery that saved her life, through the anxious sighs of the captain and her assistants. Through the watchful eyes of the Commander. All she would be left with was a massive scar running through her shoulder, and a need for rest.

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Vulcan had changed little over that last few centuries, aside from advances in sciences, technologies. But still, the spiraling towers and barren landscapes were the same. The dusty winds that carried whispers across the rocks and mountains swept it's people indoors, to councils and meetings. Universities and Institiutions scattered the red ground, leaving the dwelling to wind like snakes across and through the silver buildings that epitomized the Vulcan objective of science, logistics.

Daire liked to believe that her window opened to the landscape which Spock had so dryly described, but instead it opened to yet another hall, in a sea of corridors and rooms. No one was in her room, but the monitors bleeped indignantly with every movement. She was very sore, but very much awake, a large scar marring the sickly white skin on her shoulder. A tiny needle poked out of the skin in her wrist, and she withdrew it carefully, placing her thumb over the tiny spot. Disengaging herself from each wire, she swung her legs around the side of the bed, and reached for the tiny pile of clothes that was her uniform. She didn't have the skill to put the short, tight uniform on at this point, and so she stumbled wearily to a small silver door by the side of the window. Opening it, she found a loose gown, obviously for medical uses, white with ties in the back. The shirt she was wearing certainly wasn't decent, but this one would do. She also found her small, worn bag with her personal belongings, most likely the captain's doing. She had an over coat, a hooded gray thing that fell over her slim frame like a blanket in the bag and she took this out as well. She put on the gown painstakingly, and draped the coat over her, pulling the hood over her ears. Using the wall for guidance, she slowly moved towards the door, out to see the world that she had waited her whole life to see.

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Spock had had nothing to do for the last few hours. Crews of workers were catching shuttles to and from the moon ports, with lists and dialyses, and Spock had taken the latest one to his home. There were many things to be done around the ship, but it seems everyone knew what needed to be done. And so, logically, it would be right to visit his parents, who lived near to the Center. He found himself procrastinating…prolonging the time…and he decided that he should go and see how Daire was feeling. Maybe he wouldn't have to go see his parents…his relationship with his father was rocky at best. Things hadn't been the same since he joined the Academy.

Having a purpose, he walked carefully around the people towards the medical center. He thought of nothing, as it was so easy to keep his composure when not a thing ran through his mind. Gradually though, the familiar spires of rock and gleaming metal reached him, and he was reminded of his childhood, and hence of Daire's. The ways in which they were connected seemed boundless, and part of him, a very human part, was relieved to have found someone who could understand and not condemn him. He had condemned her, though, and it was predictable that she would be just as quick to condemn him. But he was starting to realize that this girl was more than she seemed. He wondered briefly if letting the human half of a half Vulcan child be prominent was more desirable…before he blocked the thought out of his mind and continued his walk through the silver, straight halls.

Daire was standing at the edge of the large, winding balcony, outside the medical quarters. Her view was limited, as the center was built into the rock and was tucked protectively inside a small mountain. But the air was enough. It was thinner and humid, and smelled of dust and metal, and a hot breeze stirred the scarf on her head. She was in quite a lot of pain, but it was worth it to see her birth planet. It was beautiful.

Spock saw Daire before she saw him, and if he had allowed himself frustration, it would have manifested itself then. She was nearly doubled over in pain, hanging on to the railing for support, but looking as happy as she had ever been. She was probably bleeding internally, she needed rest and recovery. He was next to her and reached out a hand to support her arms. She leaned into it thankfully.

" It's beautiful isn't it?" Daire knew who it was, she didn't need to look. He had a distinctive mental presence, and if he were behind a closed door she would have known it was him.

" You should be inside, Doctor. You, of all people, should know this."

" Ah, Spock do I sense some frustration in your voice?"

" Hardly, however, your lack of sense for personal preservation is unnerving."

She laughed, and Spock startled, a little. Daire felt the movement and looked back at him, her green eyes sparkling.

She reminded Spock of someone. Very much so.

" I just wanted to see my birth place."

" What is interesting to me, is how you can possible know for certain that you were born here when you have never met your parents."

" Here, I'll show you. I have the identification bracelet they gave me when I was born. I think it has the names of my parents, too. But I'm not sure. It's in Vulcan, which I can read, but the script is difficult." She was unclasping a small woven bracelet from her arm, from which a small tag fluttered. "See?"

Spock looked at it curiously, it was Vulcan. The script was difficult, but what he could make out said this:

" DOB Stardate 2190.21, MC23, Daire, CO Sar--- --thieda. PoM, Annyolccusi, 45.3" This was strange. The names of her parents, her caregivers where smeared, but…no. It couldn't be. It simply wasn't logical.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


End file.
